Strange sights while driving

Driving in Uganda offers an opportunity to see many interesting things.  I usually can’t record them because I’m driving.  However, today, Mary Jane and I went to have lunch in Kampala, so she could be my photographer.  We went to a cute little place called The Bistro; the décor resembles a French café, though we can’t decide whether the owner is Pakistani or Turkish.  It has great food, great coffee, and a lovely ambiance, if you can ignore the hot mess of the parking lot for the tiny shopping area where it resides.

On the way there, we passed the construction of the new St. Andrew’s, Bukoto (Anglican).  This is a wonderful church, and they are building a new building that will hold up to 1,500, and are building it without getting a loan from the bank.  This means that it’s taking them quite a while to build, but it also means that they won’t be paying a bank note at 22%.  Ahem.

As you can partially see here, the architecture is rather distinctive, especially the roof.  What you may not be able to see as well (and I apologize for the old auto insurance sticker; I need to scrape those off, and yes, that’s where they go) is that there are four men working on the roof.  You should definitely be able to see the man at the top, and possibly another at 9:00.  Neither appears to have any protective gear, like a harness or hardhat.  TIA:  This is Africa.

Then, on the way home, we were driving on the Northern Bypass, and I remarked that there was a hearse behind us with its blinkers on, and that it looked to be a Volvo.  I never knew that Volvo manufactured hearses, and regardless, Volvos are exceptionally rare here.  Also rare are funeral processions; there is a funeral, and then the burial usually takes place at the family or ancestral home, not necessarily on the same day, so there generally isn’t a procession.  Hence my surprise at the blinkers; no one following the hearse had blinkers on.

The hearse had been following me at a good distance, so I was rather surprised when it overtook (passed) me.  You can ignore the double yellow line; it does mean no passing, but rules are flexible as long as the traffic police aren’t around.  When we were behind the hearse, we noticed several other surprises:  there was neither a curtain nor dark windows to hide the casket from view, and golly, what a casket.  The gold ornamentation is rather ornate, so I’m inferring that the deceased was either a prominent member of society and/or came from a wealthy family.  We were mostly surprised that we were afforded the view of the casket; one would never see that in the States.  Once again:  TIA.